Mango Mischief

I like the introductions for all 4 characters and how they meet, they also start off in the usual roles of warrior, rogue, black mage, white mage, but the skill trees and unlockable roles shown in the tutorials after speaking with townspeople show that all 4 characters develop into a lot of different directions with overlaps possible. Battling can be tough if you dont pay attention to which monsters youre facing, and I like how rewarding it is to use spells like raising your attack or lowering your enemys speed instead of only attacking for damage every time, and items are actually useful and used well in this game. Getting a lot of experience is easy so you dont really need to grind if you dont want to, I feel like the characters are always around the right level for the next stage. Update after finishing mango mischief: Im very impressed, specifically with the middle and with the ending, and the way everything tied together, the characters stories especially. Also the combat kept getting better and more varied. Each new set of unlocked skills made me feel a little stronger and the equipment options were always great and made the battles even more strategic. Each weapon, armor, …

Good music and combat. Funny satire and characters are interesting. World Map is helpfull and shows lots to explore. Good overall especially way better then most other RPG maker games.

Interesting and humorous right from the start, from the very first room the game starts in. We encounter all 4 playable characters individually within the first 30-60 minutes, and then they're off on their joint quest! Main plot starts off as purposely cliche (obviously part of the satire - the dialogue makes that clear) but becomes more complex over time as the characters grow and we learn more about them. Combat is standard turn-based battling, though certain skills can change turn order which is nice for planning strategies (think Final Fantasy 10 with Haste and Slow). The regions and towns don't look to be the best in terms of graphics, but the designs are obviously intentional and creative, and the music works for each place. Talking to everyone is worthwhile - the dialogue is either funny or informational each time. For only $1, buying this game is a no-brainer.

Mango Mischief is a solid game overall. The combat is turn-based and you can see the turn order (and change it with certain attacks), so that's good for planning. The monsters are tough but fair, forcing you to exploit elemental weaknesses and sometimes even use spells that poison / sleep / lower monster stats / raise team stats and items instead of just dealing regular damage. You definitely want to pay attention during battle, to see how effective each move is (against the monster and against you)! The game starts off linear with random encounters, and then shifts to non-linear with non-random (voluntary?) encounters over time (with an explanation for the shift that makes sense within the game's satirical framework). Lots of jokes, most of which land well. Lots of puns and math references too, which could be your cup of tea or not. One thing that I think is cool is that each character climbs their own unique class tree, but you need to explore all the lower classes for a character before moving on to the higher classes. This ensures that each character will be somewhat balanced and learn all their own skills (several skills are tied to each class, complete the class and then …

Come for the puns, stay for the fourth wall breaks. Mango Mischief does an excellent job of poking fun at cliches and tropes of role playing games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

If you're looking for a pretty chill and relaxing game that's reminiscent of NES-era role playing video games, Mango Mischief might be the one for you. It's light-hearted and funny with decent combat, and I like how I can pause/save/resume the game wherever I want, even when real life gets in the way.